Friday, July 18, 2014

1) As conservative asswipes start beating the drum to retaliate against Russia for the downing of flight 17 over Ukraine – as seems to be the case – arming rebels and whatnot, I want to merely point out that no one ever declared war on the US for our own part in any number of insurgencies. Except some of the insurgents. The only nation who has much right to declare vendetta here seems to be the Netherlands, and today, we are all Dutch. (p.s. note how the Moscow Times covers a military action committed by their own factions.)

Thursday, July 17, 2014

I like to keep that as my private stash, but this, this was too good not to share:

It's not just that TBOTP [ed. note: Tiger Beat On The Potomac also known as Politico.com] invited the Manson Family of American geopolitics to come together for an exercise in ensemble prevarication. It's not just that the account of said exercise is written in the kind of cacophonous cutesy-poo necessary to drown out the screams of the innocent dead, and to distract the assembled crowd from the blood that has dripped from the wallet of the celebrity war-criminal leading the public display. And it's not as though this was a mere interview—a "get" that could help you "win the morning (!)." In that, it might have been marginally excusable. No, this was one of Mike Allen's little grift-o-rama special events—a "Playbook lunch," sponsored by that noted mortgage fraud concern Bank Of America. There's an upcoming TBOTP "event" in L.A. that is sponsored by J.P. Morgan. I know what Mike Allen is, but I am so goddamn tired of haggling about the price. Here's how TBOTP's own account of the event begins.

If I could write like that, I could put away my shitty little blog and become world-famous, and have women dripping off me like rainwater in a monsoon.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Why abandon K-Street, and acknowledge, then reject, the Big Business perception of the GOP? They’ve had the Republican Party’s back for some time, right? In the past, the largest companies favored one party over the other because they understood a pro-capitalist, low-regulation government benefits them.

However, in recent years, especially since the 2007-2008 recession, many have turned to viewing government as a revenue source, a competition crusher, an error-eraser, and a partner in padding their bottom line. Their interest in cheap labor, bailouts, and selectively-favorable legislation has led to a flood of dollars into the Democrat Party, or into political action committees (PACs) that attempt to move Republican congressional votes away from their bases’ expectations, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s push for amnesty. Meanwhile, a mix of bad deals and worse legislation left taxpayers and shareholders on the hook for trillions, millions lost their homes and jobs, and the senators and corporate heads responsible are laughing all the way to the bailed-out bank.

Christ, you’d almost have thought that I, a dyed-in-the-wool leftist, a Marxist of the Adam Smith school, wrote that and not Brandon Finnigan.

And it’s true. This corporatocracy that the United States has become, where corporate bribes have made it nearly impossible for the average citizen to exercise his freedom without being drowned out in a chorus of “Me too” from the corporations, a place distinctly unfriendly to human beings.

Take the last big bipartisan initiative: the TARP program and it’s immediate antecedents. Everybody jumped on board because “too big to fail.” And now, they’ve gotten even bigger and we’ve become even more diminished and the next big bubble is here, Right now. In front of our eyes. You want to know the glaring warning sign?

Mergermania has forecast nearly every single economic downturn since, well, downturns began in America and certainly every one since the 1800s.You can trace the curves almost perfectly. After all, these are the business leaders who have their fingers on the pulse – and thumb on the scale – of the American economy.

In this instance, mergers aren’t happening because there’s a lot of spare money on the table (there is, but it’s not the primary reason). They are happening because Big Business knows that the tax haven that they’ve banked on for decades, even centuries – America – is about to go all pitchforks and tumbrels, and start soaking the rich.

Of course, liberals and their progressive progeny have been all over Corporate America since long before Occupy Wall Street, long before the G8 Summit protests, long before the NAFTA. So welcome to the party, Finnigan! Pity you waited until it was too late.

"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things...every one! So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing